Infosys Campus

Last week, one of my co-workers and I went to take a couple of pictures of the place I have been calling work while here.  The campus is very, very large, and as a result, they have bicycles in various areas around the sidewalks.  We grabbed a couple of bicycles and took off to our buidling.  The journey begins with some pictures of my walk into work!  We walk about 15 minutes to gate #6 where we have to obtain our 'badges' and have our laptop bags inspected by guards.  Once we get through this fiasco, we walk about 5 more minutes to our building.

Leaving the hotel and beginning our journey!

The first two-wheeler parking area we pass on our walk into work each night.

 

A corner intersection we cross daily which is about half way through our walk to the gate.  As you can see, there is a motorcycle and a barely full rickshaw.  We have seen up to 10-12 people in one of those rickshaws!!!  It was packed as you can imagine.  They will stand on the back or even ride on top of them if they have to.

A second spot to find parked two-wheelers (motorcyles).  India uses motorcycles a lot because they can weave in and out of traffic so quickly.  I have not been able to get a picture, but I have seen as many as 5 people on one.  5 is the legal limit here, and only the driver is required to wear a helmet.  Some passengers wear hard hats rather than a real helmet.  :)

Shops along our walk to the gate - there are always quite a few people hanging out.  Down the street to the right of this picture is a Baskin Robbins.   :)  I have not been there amazingly enough.

Arriving at our building after taking the bicycle route to work.

The Pyramid building - this building is next to ours where we work.  Our building has been nicknamed the Titanic, but I have not been able to get a good pic of it yet. 

This view is from the front of the building where there is a sidewalk up to the door with shallow water pools on either side of the sidewalk.

The building has been nicknamed the washing machine, because it reminds us of a front loading one.  When coming into Bangalore from the airport, you can see the other side of this building from the road.  It is a very interesting design.  These fountains are not always on, but when they are, it is a pretty sight on campus.

My Co-worker, Allison, and I in front of the fountains.

The Casa - an eating/cafeteria location on campus.  Infosys subsidizes the food costs for employees, so I have been able to eat very inexpensively for dinner most nights.  One night I spent a total of 20 rupess, which is about $0.40 US. 

Birds of Paradise can be seen in various locations on Infosys campus.

Next up our travel to Agra, India to see the Taj Mahal.....stay tuned!  Trust me when I say this was an ADVENTURE in more ways than one!!!!  :)

Still adjusting

So after a few days here, I am getting more adjusted to things.  It is odd to work at night and be sleeping for part of the day, but I am doing a little better at it.  (Now if I can figure out the best time to get to the gym!)  We go into work around 6 pm India time, and we are usually there until 3:30 or 4 am India time.  It makes for a long work day, but the time goes by pretty quickly right now.  I am sure that will change some since things are still pretty new to me, and I am still learning my way around.  I have not had much time for sight seeing since I have been here a short time, but that will soon change as well.  I may be going out this week before work some time to see a few things  in the center of town.  There will be some pretty interesting stories from this experience I have been told.....more to come on that one.  We are also travelling to the Taj Mahal Saturday and coming back on Sunday.  We have to pay out of our pocket, but I am pretty sure I won't have this opportunity again!  :)  Can't pass that up - stay tuned for pictures of that!!!! 

They eat in different locations throughout the Infosys campus, and I have been to two different ones so far.  The first night I spent 50 rupees which is about $1 for my dinner, and the second night was 20 rupees which is about $.40!!!  Here are a few pictures of my adventurous eating habits I have developed while in India.  (The first night I had Curry with Chicken, but I did not have my camera with me.)

This is an ice cream very similar to a Drumstick.  They call it tri-cone.  This one has butterscotch flavored ice cream!  Yummy.  I had this my first night at the office, and we all went back again tonight for another one! 

This Indian meal is called Aloo Paratha.  (more info below)  :)

Yes, that is me eating Aloo Paratha!!!  It was pretty good, but you have to be careful with the spice because it is HOT!

If you don't know what Aloo Paratha is (because I didn't until today), here you go:

It is one of the most popular unleavened flat-breads in Indian cuisine, Pakistani cuisine and Bengali cuisine and is made by pan frying whole-wheat flour on a tava (the griddle). The paratha dough usually contains ghee or cooking oil which is also layered on the freshly prepared paratha (literally means layers of cooked flour). Parathas are usually stuffed with vegetables such as boiled potatoes, leaf vegetables, radishes or cauliflower and/or paneer (South Asian cheese). A paratha (especially a stuffed one) can be eaten simply with a blob of butter spread on top or chutney, a spicy sauce made from yogurt and fresh herbs, but it is best served with pickles and yogurt, or thick spicy curries of meat and vegetables. Some people prefer to roll up the paratha into a tube and eat it with tea, often dipping the paratha into the tea.

I had the paratha stuffed with spicy potatoes, and the red portion in the picture is spicy pickle dipping sauce.  The white cup is a type of Indian yogurt to dip in.  Usually, you dip in the pickles then the yogurt.  The yogurt is often used to cool the spices down.  :) 

The Journey to India

It all started a few months ago when work approached me about going to India for business.  My job is moving some functions to India, and I had been involved in training some of those people.  It had been somewhat of a joke about me coming since I have smaller children, but after some arm twisting and convincing, I am here in India about to start my 'first day on the job'! 

I left Dallas on Saturday, Feb. 19 and arrived in Bangalore, India on Monday, 2/21 very early in the morning.  We flew from Dallas to London on a 9.5 hour flight where we boarded another plane within an hour or so to fly to India.  The flight to India from London was also 9.5 hours, and it was a little more difficult than the first leg of the journey here.  We arrived at our hotel around 6:30 am Monday morning.  (India is 11.5 hours ahead of Dallas time - so right now, it is around 5 pm Monday afternoon.)  Needless to say, I was exhausted and ready for a real bed to sleep in.  The drive from the airport was quite interesting!!  It is 55 km from the airport to the hotel, and it took about an hour.  India traffic is VERY different than US traffic.  They don't stop for stop signs or lights unless the intersection is blocked by other vehicles.  I thought a couple times we were either going to be hit or we were about to hit someone.  There were several times I could have rolled down my window and touched the car beside me all while going 60 -80 km/hour!!!  Only 3 times did I find myself grabbing on to the door handle or my bag in front of me a little tighter.  :)   

After settling in some, I laid my head down to sleep, and it was much needed.  For now, here are some pictures of where I will be 'living' for the next three weeks.  Enjoy! 


A view from the door into my room - after 30+ hours of travel to get here, that bed was the most comfortable thing I have slept on!!!! 



The desk area and front foyer

The restroom - yes, the toilet is square!  It is a little odd to sit on needless to say.  :)

The shower - you can't see it, but above the removable showerhead is a ceiling mounted shower head.